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Monday, 12 March 2012

Portway Multi Fuel and Wood Burning Stoves

The Founding Father of Energy Efficiency

Portway multi fuel and wood burning stoves
began in the early 1800’s when the owner of an ironmongery store took
inspiration from the very first enclosed metal stoves which first
appeared in North America at the end of the 1700’s and custom built his
own stove to heat his Halstead based store.

Charles Portway’s
design proved to be so successful that a neighbouring shopkeeper asked
Portway to build a stove to heat his store also. Soon afterwards Portway
set up a small foundry manufacturing solid fuel stoves that were so
successful they lasted up to the 1980’s almost without any change.

The
beauty behind the success of Portway’s stove was in their efficiency.
The stoves burned so slowly that they extracted the maximum amount of
heat from the fuel. The stoves were named ‘Tortoise’ stoves and proudly
produced with the motto ‘Slow but Sure’ displayed on the front. It was
the first heating appliance to offer fuel efficiency as a major selling
point making its role in the development of our industry of great
significance today. Robert Higgs, the chief executive of the Heating and
Ventilating contractors association argues the Portway was the
“founding father of energy efficiency”.

Portway’s stoves were
used to heat churches and halls as well as homes and 19th Century stoves
displaying the iconic ‘Tortoise’ trademark can still be found today,
making it one of the oldest, most resilient products in the history of
heating.

Even
today, at 80% efficiency, Portway stoves are amongst the most efficient
multifuel stoves on the market. This means that you need to burn less
fuel to get more heat compared to similar products on the market.

Portway multifuel stoves are capable of burning a wide range of natural and manufactured fuels. Wood
is a renewable and carbon-neutral energy source since a tree will use
up more carbon during the course of its lifetime than is produced when
it is burned. Thus, making the use of wood the most environmentally
friendly energy source available today. Both hard woods and soft woods
can be used on our stoves.

Our
stoves will also burn a number of other such as, peat, straw, sawdust
briquettes, anthracite, lignite and most natural and manufactured
mineral fuels.

Each
stove is made from 96% easily recyclable material and all cast parts,
such as; doors and grates, are manufactured from 70% recycled iron.

Every Portway stove carries independently tested CE Approval to standard EN13240 and approved for use in
smoke free zones when burning anthracite or any other authorized
smokeless fuel. They can also be used in smoke free zones in the
Republic of
Ireland when burning wood or peat briquettes.